Trolling speeds for trout

I have a small boat and motor and would like to do a little trolling for some trout. I would like to know what speeds would be appropriate for trolling on say East Canyon or Echo. Any help would be great. I catch a few fish but any additional information would be of great help. Thanks.

If trolling popgear, 1-1.5mph is what works best for me. This is about as slow as any kicker motor will go or about 50% throttle on an electric. If trolling lures I'll forget the popgear and go 2-2.5mph because the lures won't really wiggle going any slower.

My experience has been that trout are lazy and will eat bait as it passes by but won't bother to chase it much. Its easier for them to just suck plankton.

Hey cbfish, It all depends on the time of year and the weather also the fish, I troll flatfish as slow as I can .5 to 1.0 pop-gear at 1.0 to 1.5 spoons 1.0 to 3.0 plugs 2.5 to 4.0 alot of the time if the wind is blowing you can drift a flatfish or just a worm. I've had days up at the berry when trolling with pop-gear and a spinner / lure in the wind at a super slow speed with the wind and every time a wave would push the boat we would get hit / fish "cutts" I also had good luck drift fishing with flatfish. You just have to find what the fish wants that day Also I always do S - turns as I trolling and I'm always speeding up and slowing down.

But a good place to start is around 1.5 and let the lure tell you how fast.

It depends alot on what you are trolling with. Lures like rapalas work best if they are trolled at a higher rate of speed than I would use with a flatfish. I think I usually go about a mile a hour with a flat fish or a popgear and worm. Rapalas should be trolled faster than that. Maybe twice as fast or more. I would put the lure in the water and watch as you increase your boat speed until The lure looks like it has the desired action. gshorthair

Hey cbfish, It all depends on the time of year and the weather also the fish, I troll flatfish as slow as I can .5 to 1.0 pop-gear at 1.0 to 1.5 spoons 1.0 to 3.0 plugs 2.5 to 4.0 alot of the time if the wind is blowing you can drift a flatfish or just a worm. I've had days up at the berry when trolling with pop-gear and a spinner / lure in the wind at a super slow speed with the wind and every time a wave would push the boat we would get hit / fish "cutts" I also had good luck drift fishing with flatfish. You just have to find what the fish wants that day Also I always do S - turns as I trolling and I'm always speeding up and slowing down.

But a good place to start is around 1.5 and let the lure tell you how fast.

You got some really good info from H_P. Especially his last sentence - Let the (specific) lure tell you the speed.

Here's my general rules of thumb:1. Place the lure you are going to use out by the side of the boat and look at it's action. Is it working as you think it should at the speed you are going ? Is it tracking straight ? 2. Typically lures are designed to have the best action at a speed of 1/2 mph per inch of lure - example: a 2 inch spoon or plug will mimic a bait fish swimming at 1 mph. This is relative to the depth of the water, the wind (and direction) and the species of fish you are after. Of course, there will be differences between the types and manufactures of each kind of lure you use and these things need to be taken into consideration.3. Change your speed and direction - Do "S" turns all the time. Often the strikes happen when the lure changes it's action, depth, speed or direction. 4. If you are trolling 2 lures (one on each side of the boat) at 2 mph and doing "S" turns, the lure on the inside of the turn is going substantially slower than 2 mph and the lure on the out side of the turn is going faster than 2 mph.5. The further behind the lure is, the less it will be affected by your "S" turns. Thus, you will need to exaggerate and prolong the turns to acheive the desired effect.6. Use a reel with a Line counter !7. Thinner line makes the lure swim deeper and thicker line makes it swim shallower. Generally, I use 10 pound line.8. Troll your lure far enough back so that the fish are not spooked by your boat. But, if the lure is too far back, the fish might get off before you get it in - example: I usually fish my lure from 100 to 200 feet back; Beyond 200 feet, the fish might get enough leverage or line slack/stretch to unbutton itself. 9. Be mindfull of the wind. Use it to your advantage. You can shut down the motor and drift troll. You can drag a carolina rigged flatfish or a bottom bouncer at very slow speeds in a light breeze. Or, if the wind is too strong to get steerage into it, turn around and maybe it is strong enough to push you at an acceptable speed to troll a different lure with the wind.10. If I haven't had any strikes in about 10 minutes, I change something - speed, direction, LURES, location, etc. If trolling is not working, I try something else for a while.

cbfish wrote:[/quote]Thank you very much for the information. I have maybe been going a little fast then or a little shallow. Do you use a weight with your popgear if just fishing on a spinning rod?[/quote] This time of year 70% of my trout are caught flat-lining about 100' behind the boat. However, when I'm trolling its usually because I have several young kids in the boat and so I run 2 rods flat-lined (5' deep), 2 rods with 4 colors of leaded line out (20' deep) and 2 lines on downriggers (35' deep). Running more than 2 lines at each depth has always resulted in wicked popgear tangles, especially with the kids holding the poles and bringing in the fish.

As the water temperature approaches 70 degrees flat-lining only works very early in the morning.

If you don't have leaded line or downriggers, 2 oz trolling sinkers work great to get down where the fish are but your depths are very speed dependent.

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